Texas
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G
A L V E S T O N C O U N T Y |
Marker No:
Pink Granite
Geographic: 29°18'21.1"N 94°47'22.6"W
Location: 1918 Postoffice St, Galveston, TX 77550
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Marker Text: Remembers the valor and devolution of the military combatants historical marker Galveston during the Civil War.
On Oct. 9 1862 a Union naval force landed at Galveston and raised the U.S. flag at this customhouse, but on Jan 1, 1863 in the Battle of Galveston Confederate units under Maj. Gen. J.B. Magruder recaptured the city utilizing only field artillery and two steamboats protected with cotton bales to defeat Union gunboats and a small infantry force on board the cotton clad steamboats under command of Maj. Leon Smith were volunteers led by Col. Thomas Gren. The city and it's residents were continually under the guns of one side or the other and occasionally both from start of a Union blockade in July 1861 until June 2, 1865 when the Confederate Army of the Trans-Mississippi surrendered at Galveston for the civilians who remained life in a city that was essentially an armed camp was difficult and dangerous. On June 5, 1865 in what Capt. Benjamin Sands of the U.S. Navy called the closing act of the Great Rebellion his forces again raised the U.S. flag here finally bringing under Union control the last major port still in Confederate hands on June 19, 1865 union Gen. Gordon Granger issued an order in Galveston stating the emancipation proclamation was ineffective in Texas that event later celebrated as Juneteenth confirmed the end of slavery in the state. A memorial not only to Texas who served in the military but also to those who indured hardships at home. (1998) |